Due to turbulent past of the Western Balkans during the 20th century, and in particular the violent disintegration of former Yugoslavia, official cooperation among countries in the region is not yet properly developed. Such cooperation is negatively affected by particular governments’ interests and the lack of awareness of the regional dimension of similar problems and of possibilities to invest joint efforts into solving them. This situation has a significant impact on young generations. YIHR finds it important to provide young people with tools for creating new ties among post-war generations and acquiring personal experience about their neighbours that is free of stereotypes inherited from official narratives, political discourses, media reporting and education systems.
Since its establishment in 2003, YIHR Regional Network has been conducting various informal cross-border programmes among the countries in the region, as well as visiting programmes among different ethnic groups within countries. Simultaneously, YIHR advocates the establishment of official communication channels for young people in the Western Balkans. Through its extensive experience in bringing young people from post-conflict states closer to one another, YIHR has realised that current circumstances in the region open the space for establishing official channels for youth exchanges.
Therefore, YIHR believes that, in the process of establishing an official youth exchange programme in the Western Balkan region, it is important to ensure the following criteria:
– Governments as the founders of the programme: Respective governments of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania should establish and support this programme. They should be responsible for its functioning and sustainability. In this manner, governments in the region will show that they are dedicated to strengthening regional cooperation and willing to take an active role in providing space for young people to tear down existing barriers, break down prejudice and create an atmosphere of tolerance which will replace xenophobic attitude that is widespread across the region of former Yugoslavia.
– The role of civil society: It is extremely important to have governments in the region as the founders of this programme and their dedication to the idea of regional cooperation among youth through certain financial resources that will be invested in the programme. However, civil society should also play an important role in outlining its mandate and designing its activities. Organisations that have valuable experience in dealing with cross-border programmes involving youth, as well as those which gather a great numbers of young people around their activities should contribute to this process, especially in the initial phase.
– Enabling mobility where obstacles still exist: The role of this programme should be to inspire the mobility of youth and strengthen it where needed. Special focus should be placed on the issue of mobility among young people from Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as on finding solution for visa liberalization between these two states. Further, the procedures of acquiring visas for countries in the region which are EU Member States should be simplified for those who still cannot travel freely through the Schengen area. In that respect, the issue of enabling foreigners to enter Serbia through Kosovo (instead of travelling through Macedonia) should be solved.
– Opening official education system for participation in regional exchanges: In order to include larger number of people, gain multiple effect and ensure full support for various programmes which involve schools into exchanges, special attention should be paid to the removal of obstacles for cooperation between primary and secondary schools, as well as universities.
– Ensuring recognition of university diplomas in the region: Since the borders in the Western Balkan region are not ethnical with many students gaining their university degree in some of the neighbouring countries, where they study in their native languages, it is important to create mechanisms for simpler process of nostrification of such diplomas. General diploma recognition might have an impact on greater mobility of young people in the region.
– Raising awareness among young people about multiperspectivity of historical narratives in the Western Balkans: The question of dealing with the past should play an important role in this programme and must not be ignored. It should not be applied only on programmes whose content is related to this topic, but also on other programmes that do not necessarily deal with it. Participants of exchange programmes should be inspired to learn about differences among existing perspectives on the events from the past and think in that spirit. For this reason, this programme requires qualified people who will be handling the visits. Awareness on existence of parallel and conflicting narratives may create more understanding in political terms among young people in the region.
– Governments’ dedication to the promotion of good neighbouring relations and advocating a need for enhanced regional cooperation: It is important that in official discourses of governments in the region, through synchronised activities of different ministries, media and general spirit in the education system, regional cooperation is emphasised as a necessary tool for progress and brighter future. The freedom of movement should be particularly promoted in areas with existing divisions among communities and where, in spite of absence of formal obstacles for mobility, people have psychological barriers to visit neighbouring communities.
– Programme sustainability: From the very beginning, special attention should be paid to the sustainability of the programme. It should be secured through precise fundraising strategy, but the financial contribution of governments from the region should play an important role in the operationalisation of regional mechanisms that will enable youth visit programmes.
In light of the above-mentioned criteria, Regional Network of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights finds mutual interest in advocating establishment of the Regional Youth Exchange Programme and commits itself to contribute to the process of establishing such programme in the Western Balkans.
